Bethel Park School District deserves better leadership

Published Apr 24, 2013 at 10:32 am
(Updated Jun 14, 2013 at 12:27 pm)

Apparently the teaching staff at Bethel Park doesn’t deserve your respect. And why, you may ask? Because they have the audacity to expect professional wages and conditions commensurate with other like districts, and because they have expressed frustration with a school board that has stonewalled a contract agreement for three years. If you simply follow the board’s public statements, there are a lot of clues as to where the problem may lie. On several occasions board members have referenced former teacher strikes that occurred 20 to 30 years ago. My God, talk about holding a grudge. Several times when teachers have expressed their frustrations in public about this, school board members have leveled snide and demeaning remarks back. Very professional indeed. Then there is the last bastion of any failed position: “If you don’t like it, leave.” Or, “Nobody goes in to teaching to get rich.” Finally you might note that this board also has not managed to achieve an agreement with several other unions. One could argue that this school board is simply in over its head and/or petty and vindictive. Bethel Park deserves better leadership than this.